HotwireReviews 770

Terrible customer service horrible experience with this company! Small print says no refunds or cancellations beware!

I booked a car with hotwire and while i reached to pick up the car i got to know the rental company don't have any car for me and rental company told me in fact they were trying to find me with the info that they don't have the car which i booked, but Hot wire has not provided any information they can use for this communication. Afterwards when i managed my trip i tried to file a complaint and after long wait time over phone hot wire executive convinced me that this situation is not in their control as I have not paid any money directly to Hotwire? I can't remember when i refused to pay i was just using information/options provide on there portal. Please try to avoid Hotwire platform if you want to enjoy your trip without issues.

They wouldn't cancel my hotel after I repeatedly said it was done in error. They are SCAMMERS! They CLAIMED they called the hotel and tried to cancel it but, I doubt is because she became back to the line way too fast for someone who was attempting to call anyone. Also, be aware you won't get a refund but, "hotwire credits" which are worthless. Do not use hotwire! Please save yourself the headache and lost time and money.

Worst rental car experience in my 30 years renting cars. Service by Dollar staff at Newark International Airport was horrendous telling me to go to Hertz cause they were closing at 12:00am yet it was only 11:30pm. I refused. I had rented a FULL SIZE car and was given a Chevy Trax which was not a full size car and was the worst rental car and felt more like a death trap when driving the vehicle. Brakes were horrible, windshield wipers were awful. The car was unsafe. I tell Hotwire who I rented though and they want to offer me a 25% discount and give it to me in Hotwire dollars. That will do me no good as I would rather rent through someone else than use Hotwire or Dollar again.

I booked a Hot Rate hotel through the website. I understand you take your chances when booking these rates. But the site said "You're guaranteed to stay at one of these regional or national chains:" and showed Sheraton, Radisson, Holiday Inn, and Wingate. It further offered a photo from the hotel I was booking. I was booked into the Sonesta Select.
I have talked to multiple people, all of whom continued the lie. How can they legally use the term "guarantee" and then not follow through?

Booked a nights stay with hotwire, where their webside cited that the hotel we booked had a 24 hour front desk. The day before we checked in, we received unlcear check in instructions, where we were concerned that we should have already advised the hotel (via calling a phone number) that we were to be flying in after 9pm. This is a airport hotel, so this should be a common occurence.

Tried to source an alternative to a phone call, not having sims that allow for calls overseas. There was no whatsapp or email option. I spoke to Hotwire on messenger only to find they could do absolutely nothing to help or clarify my concerns as to whether we could check in within the next 24 hours when we were arriving. They kept telling me my only option was to make a phone call.

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE and has added a lot of distress to the end of our vacation. Not one place of accommodation had ever demanded a phone call as the only option. For travellers making a phone call can be incredibly difficult.

Booked a *******@Resort World. Paid deposit from Paypal account to Hotwire but hotel never got it so they charged full amount for room. When I called the hotel they told me Hotwire never sent over the visible credit card so yes hotel charged full amount for room. Agent from Hotwire was not helpful at all but I did message with Andrea today and she was very concerned & explained the process to me. This happened April 6th & I am still trying to get reimbursed $72.05. I will never use Hotwire again. This should not be happening. Resort World tried calling with me on the phone but no one answered. I message with Andrea from Hotwire today & she said she tried calling Resort World & did not get an answer. To me I should not have to send in bank statement & statement from hotel. Statement should be enough & hotwire should be able to look into the transaction and see that they didn't send any money to hotel. Simple fix...they need better remedies. Their records should show what happened. I have to get Screenshot from my bank but I will not send my banking info b/c I have been a victim of identity theft before and very afraid but I do need to be reimbursed. I suggest Hotwire send over the credit to Resort World so I can get my money. Never again will I stay at Resort World nor will I ever use HOTWIRE & going to write a letter to BBB & Consumer Affairs. Maybe some type of investigation can be done into their business practices.

We reserved two non-smoking rooms at the Charlston Quality Inn in Charlston Mo on 3/17/23. One minute after we reserved this non smoking room online through Hotwire, the Quality Inn Motel front desk called us and said they had no non smoking rooms available. We asked the motel and Hotwire to cancel the reservation because we were not getting the room we reserved. They both have refused to refund our money. Disappointing that when they advertised as non smoking, but did not have it, yet wouldn't refund our money.

I've used Hotwire 3 times in the past and have had no issues so far! I have used it for accommodations in Canada and the US.

My flight from Detroit to Des Moines Iowa was delayed and this is not my fault. As i get to the airport at 9pm in the evening the car rental place Hertz was closed. There was 2 other car places opened such as Avis. Hotwire does not warn you that you can not get credit nor a refund. All sales are final regardless of what happens and you don't get a car. So not able to get half a credit you just don't get nothing at all. They just lost a customer. I don't recommend a third party for any bookings. All sales are final. So I wasted 134 for one day of rental. I hope they go out of business.

I have checked the hot wire car rental site for the past 2 weeks. All of the cars are hot rates for the area that I am traveling to. The price on the page is $40.00/day. Once I clicked the continue button the price automatically changes to $60+ dollars/day. I finally decided to call hot wire to inquire about the price change. I was told by an agent the price changes daily. She then went on to say the price was $39 yesterday. I told her that I checked every day for the past 2 weeks and the price has NOT changed. It appears that hot wire has gone bad. I will use another agency to rent a car.

Be Aware of the following fraud perpetrated by Hotwire:
I purchased a hotel stay with hotwire based upon the hotel's location as promised by Hotwire's map. After I committed to their promise, they sold me a hotel outside of their mapped region.
Then, I was told absolutely no refunds.

Worst customer service ever encountered! Do not book Airfare, Car rentals, or Hotels through this web site! If you need to cancel for any reason, they will not refund your money! Instead, they credit you "Hot Dollars" which means you have to book through them again within 12 month or you forfit your money! What a scam! It also took over an hour to get them to just give me a credit! I really think I will just take my lumps and never use them again! Don't let yourself be conned thinking your going to save a few bucks. Go direct to the Airline or Rental company, at least you can get a full refund! Hotwire also charges your card in full when you book, not when you check in, so they've got you by the balls!

Booked a room for a 2 night stay, April 14-16th, through Hotwire. I have to assume that they are in cahoots with the hotels, because we ended up paying OVER $350 in hidden fees and valet parking (this is not counting the price of the room!). When I complained that these hidden fees were too astronomical, they gave me a credit 0f $60, which they made "difficult" to use (and that's putting it mildly). They also don't give you the ability to leave a less than positive review...scammy! Lastly, you end up getting the WORST rooms that the locations have to offer, at these "discounted" prices! A TOTAL SCAM...AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

I can see this review will mean nothing after seeing the national review score being so low. Picking a car then changing my mind, the dates switched back to their default dates. I did not scan all the details and booked it. Once I got the email minutes later, I caught the error. This is all within 5 minutes. Hotwire would not assist with the date change and hung me with a $225 rental bill I could not use. I spoke with a customer service rep, who told me to call Sixt. There was nothing they could do. I asked for a supervisor. She was so dismissive. The supervisor tried to pin it on me. I selected those dates. I went to their website and said it currently shows those dates right now. She quickly moved off that excuse and then went to the fine print responsibility. I reached out to Sixt, and they said they couldn't do anything because it was a third-party reservation. They did say to have Hotwire email their leisure department, and they would make the correction. I returned to Hotwire, and the customer service rep said he could not return me to the supervisor. That was it. Paid $225 for a rental I never used. To summarize, zero effort. I wasn't trying to get my money back. Literally, trying to change the dates 5 minutes after the booking.

Terrible service! As a third-party provider, you should have some control or how many customers you sent to a particular car rental agency I've been standing in line I wanna say for now about 20 minutes I talk to the person at the front of the line they said they've been waiting an hour and instead of hot wire, you're trying to take a deeper dive and find out from the writer how long this was going to be they wanted me to do their work for them I am pissed off because I have very little time and I don't have time to stand in line for hour hour and a half when I have other things to do. I asked them to switch me to a separate provider. I didn't even want to refund but choose another provider that you're working with to accommodate me as a customer so I don't stand in this line. I've been a hotwire customer for I don't know almost 20 years and I don't appreciate being treated this way and so as of today this would be my last and final booking with them ever.

You would think that Hotwire would have somebody checking out the hotels that they have on their site. The room I got was FULL of cockroaches, bedbugs, shared bathroom, holes and mold in the ceiling, no A/C unit, no TV in the room, no elevator. I have no idea how this hotel even passes inspection. There has to be kickbacks being given to the health department. ALWAYS book directly with the hotel. Leave the middle man behind. Oh yeah, NO REFUND, that is until I showed them the pictures and told them it would be reported to the county health department.

I just lost my job. Its stressful enough, but now I can't afford to go on vacation that I booked. Every hotel and car agency took compassion over my situation and issued a refund, except Hotwire. I used five different booking vendors (hotel, air, car) and each one gave me a refund; even those with non refund policies had understanding. Not Hotwire. Oh well I won't be using them ever again.

We saw several available cars for rent and tried to book them but unable to book them every time. Spoke to someone and she saw the same vehicles I saw but then just suggested a bigger more expensive option. When I said that didn't work for me. She did not offered to honor price or suggest a similar option. She just said thanks for reporting this issue and check back later or tomorrow. Terrible service! Stay away